Cats are ideal for politicians. I had two when I arrived at Westminster, Sooty and Sweep, who had come with a flat I had bought six years earlier in Fulham from someone who was about to go abroad. There was a better offer ahead of me but she took mine because I would take the cats.
Like most MPs, I campaigned and voted to remain in the EU. I was concerned that extricating ourselves from a relationship built up over 40 years would be complex and challenging and that the economic cost of increasing friction in our trade with the EU would be high.
When it comes to topping the 'least popular' lists, MPs have form. Typically, we're pipped to the post only by bankers and traffic wardens.
I grew up in a highly political home. My mother was the co-chair of the 300 Group, an organisation whose aim was to get more women MPs into parliament, and she herself stood in the 1987 election, the year before she died.
Beyond providing some level of scrutiny of Kenyan MPs, we built Mzalendo to demonstrate that there is only so much bemoaning you can do about your representation.
I remember at one time there were 44 mining MPs.
One of the initiatives I have pursued in Parliament has been to make it easier for the public to see what their MPs do in the House of Commons by removing the ban on Parliamentary filming appearing on YouTube or similar web sites.
MPs are basically bonded labourers of their parties. And it is the party high command of each party, which takes decisions.
Since I was first elected to Parliament in 2010, I have witnessed appalling attacks on Jewish people, including my fellow MPs.
The decisions MPs make as our representatives affect every aspect of our daily lives, from energy bills to the quality of our hospitals, schools and emergency services.
No-deal Brexit can and must be stopped. To do that, MPs across Parliament who oppose it need to stand up and be counted. The options available are limited, and we must come together around a workable plan.
I believe that MPs from all parties must work together to prevent a damaging hard exit.
A lot of people don't feel heard. I want to take their concerns to MPs. If I have to stand seven times before I'm elected, I will. Call me Jack Farage.
Democracy cannot be imagined without Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha, and they cannot be imagined without MPs and MLAs.
I didn't particularly want to go to Westminster - not that there were many seats available or chances for women to get elected. In 1987, Labour sent down 50 MPs, and only one of them was a woman.
Our MPs will take decisions on how they're voting on a day-to-day basis. But I'm the leader of the party, and in terms of our overall strategy and how we vote on key issues, then ultimately, those decisions will be mine.
The MPs are not adopting villages; it's the villages that are adopting the MPs.
The problem is that many MPs never see the London that exists beyond the wine bars and brothels of Westminster.
